Is there any way to perform Viewshed WITH consideration of buildings

Question

Hi All
Is there any way to perform Viewshed WITH consideration of buildings (as Multipatches)
WITHOUT turning the buildings into DSM\DTM? layer?

Since line of sigh GP tool can do it I tend to belive this option is exist.

Thanks

larryzhang1 · Answer

Hi All
Is there any way to perform Viewshed WITH consideration of buildings (as Multipatches)
WITHOUT turning the buildings into DSM\DTM? layer?

Since line of sigh GP tool can do it I tend to belive this option is exist.

Thanks

Ori,

It is good question. Generally, you can do, because view-shed analysis with DEM is one of �??line of sight�?? analysis. When having a cell with height (x, y, z) like tower or building corner, the viewshed algorithm can be used over DEM for your case.

However, with multipatch in ArcGIS, you need transfer the specific position to make it work with the viewshed algorithm (over DEM).

Regards,

++++++++++
By the way, the concept of �??DSM dataset�?? commonly used in ArcGIS is arguable, especially, in engineering literature, because DSM is actually a data model (not dataset), which is constructed from very-high-resolution optical data (stereo-pair imagery, or LiDAR cloud points). In practice, �??bare�?? DEM must be obtained from DSM, before moving into GIS. 'DSM dataset' shouldn�??t be used in any strict GIS analysis/applications�?�

Read at http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/95931-How-to-convert-a-DSM-to-DEM?p=341462&viewfull=1#post341462